View From Saturday: Amazon.ca: E L Konigsburg: Books

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

A powerhouse sixth-grade Academic Bowl team from Epiphany Middle School; the art of calligraphy; the retirees of Century Village, Florida; a genius dog named Ginger; and a holiday production of "Annie" all figure heavily in the latest book by E. L. Konigsburg, who has produced a Newbery Medal-winning children's tale to rival her classic From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which won the Newbery Medal almost 30 years ago. The new book centers around a group of four brilliant, shy 12-year-olds and the tea party they have each Saturday morning. Konigsburg's wacky erudition and her knack for offbeat characters make this a funny and endearing story of friendship. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Glowing with humor and dusted with magic, this contemporary novel explores the ties that bind the four members of a championship academic quiz-bowl team. Sixth-grade teacher/coach Mrs. Olinski, teaching for the first time since becoming paraplegic, proudly observes her students' victories from the confines of a wheelchair. She is not sure what propelled her to choose the members of her team, nor does she fully comprehend the secret of their success in repeatedly beating older, more sophisticated competitors. Readers will be equally mystified until the backgrounds of the foursome (who call themselves The Souls) unfold during a series of first-person narratives that reveal the links between the students' private lives. Newbery Medalist Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler) orchestrates a stunning quartet of harmoniously blended voices. She expresses the individual struggles of each of her characters while showing how they unite to reach a common goal. Wrought with deep compassion and a keen sense of balance, her imaginative novel affirms the existence of small miracles in everyday life. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Mrs. Eva Marie Olinski always gave good answers. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

194 Reviews

5 star:		(115)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
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4.1 out of 5 stars (194 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Teaspoons and afternoons, Jun 10 2004

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The View from Saturday (Paperback)

As you may know, the Newbery Award is the highest honor a children's book can garner in the United States. Newbery winners are a touch and go lot, and a lot of kids avoid them like the plague. I've always been particularly interested in those award winning books that appeal to kids just as much as they appeal to the adults that shower them with praise, moolah, and awards. For instance, many adults felt that the book "A Single Shard" was well written, while a host of kids looked on it as dulldy dull dull. Both children and adults have agreed that "Holes" and "The Tale of Despereaux" are great books that are fun to read. Then you come to "The View From Saturday". Honestly, I thought this was a fabulous book. It was the rare children's novella that took the great risk of offering wisdom to its readers. It dares to make you think about life, the world, and how one interacts with other people. I can tell you a million reasons to love it, but I honestly haven't a clue if kids would enjoy it. Therein lies the mystery.

"The View From Saturday" follows the lives of four sixth grade quiz bowl champs and their paraplegic coach/teacher. Alternating their final quiz bowl championship match with short stories about the different journeys each kid has had to make, the book is adept at distinguishing between each individual in the group. We begin by listening to a story told by Noah. Noah reminded me of nothing so much as the spaz boy in the spelling bee documentary "Spellbound". A bit of a nerd, but pleased with his own inventive thoughts and ideas, Noah becomes the best man at a geriatric wedding. Then we hear Nadia's story about staying with her divorced father and newly remarried grandfather (hence the Noah connection) in Florida. This flows nicely into Ethan's story. His grandmother married Nadia's grandfather, and he overcomes his reluctance to interact easily with others with the help of his new friend Julian. Julian is the least troubled of the bunch, a boy of Indian heritage who is coming to America after living on a cruise ship. Together, the four band together into a group called The Souls. They are selected by Mrs. Olinski (though for a long time she doesn't know why) as her newest Quiz Bowl team and work effortlessly together in a group as friends and teammates.

A synopsis of this tale really doesn't do it justice. Konigsburg is an adept writer and she knows exactly how to balance a story with both emotion and humor. I was particularly taken with Nadia's tale about living in Florida. Somehow, the author was able to conjure up feelings of being ignored and abandoned perfectly. As Nadia feels an (in my opinion) entirely justified sense of self-pity, we as readers understand what she's going through perfectly. Little triumphs are measured with small defeats. One of the things this book dares to say, and says so well, is how awfully mean people can be. That's a pretty loaded idea. Books today enjoy showing a mean person and then revealing the back story to their crimes. Here, we understand that sometimes a person's just mean to be mean, and it makes them unsuitable as friends as a result.

Then there's Konigsburg's usual jabs at adults in positions of authority. In this particular case she's aimed her sights at people who naturally expect themselves to be smarter than children, yet constantly make mistakes regarding multiculturalism, grammar, pronunciation, etc. And she doesn't drill this idea home by ever putting the adults in situations where they spar with the kids. Instead, they tend to spar with Mrs. Olinski, assuming that because she is a) Just a teacher and b) Confined to a wheelchair she must therefore be less worthy of intelligent human discourse. The result is usually both funny and profound.

Funny and profound is a good way to describe this entire offering, actually. It has its oddities, that's for sure. You have kids in this book saying sentences like, "Oh, that is too bad. Dad is picking me up before supper, and he will be disappointed if I do not eat with him". Not a contraction in sight. Do sixth graders actually act like the ones in this book? Probably not. Will you be amused by them anyway? Probably so. Will actual living breathing sixth graders be amused, intrigued, and challenged by this book? I have absolutely no idea. Maybe yes, maybe no. Whether or not they will, the book is fabulous, fun, and wise beyond its years. It's like a little dose of Zen religion without hokey mysticism or flowery prose. This book respects you, it respects your opinions, and it respects your sense of self-worth. If you have any desire to read something that accomplishes all this and more, pick it up for a glance.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Quotables, Mar 26 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The View from Saturday (Paperback)

E.L. Konigsburg uses descriptive nouns and vivid modifiers to paint a vivid picture of the characters in your head in The View from Saturday. First you get to know the charcter. She does this by painting the vivid picture and you feel like you know the character personally. You also feel like you are a "Soul." She does this by making you feel like you are there during their conversations, and there while they win the Champion Bowl. Also seeing the vivid picture makes you feel like you are watching them. You feel you are watching them because you really can picture the conflicts between the Noah and Nadia . So in conclusion, this book really shows that character desciption delivers an emotional message. You should definitly read this book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars unique and intriguing, Mar 14 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The View from Saturday (Paperback)

First off, the book is about four SIXTH graders. I note this because some of the reviews on Amazon erroneously say the characters are in seventh grade. Anyway, these four sixth graders go onto defeat the seventh, then eighth graders in their schools, and eventually take the regional trivia bowl championship.

The four children "can spell and define puberty but have not yet gone through it." Given this, I can accept the tea parties and some of the other pastimes they engage in in "The View." Also, they are NOT presented as perfect without any character flaws or problems. The "Souls' as they call themselves are exceptionally intelligent and compassionate, but they - at least for Ethan and Nadia - do not make the "right" decisions instantly. Nadia, for example, wavers between helping some stranded baby turtles, or holding on to her grudge against her grandfather and father.

This book also has some wonderful imagery. For example, ELK compares painting Nadia without her freckles to brushing the cinnamon off cinnamon toast.

In summary, I would highly recommend this book.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars View from Saturday
It is a wonderful book about four friends and a paraplegic teacher. All of them a related in some different way. Read more

Published on Feb 19 2004 by Mariel

4.0 out of 5 stars The View from Saturday
The View from Saturday is the story of four unlikely 6th-graders who are picked by their teacher, Mrs. Olinski,for the Academic Bowl team. Read more

Published on Jan 12 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Saturday Tea
Strange things go on all the time. But the strangest things of all are those that are linked by the thin thread of life. Read more

Published on Dec 8 2003 by S. Xu

2.0 out of 5 stars RUN...run as fast as you can.
RUN! This book brings torment as I recall the agonizing days of reading it in the 6th grade. Do not read this book. Read more

Published on Sep 25 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Creatively Done
As a teacher to be, I was impressed with how this book captures your attention from page one and maintains it through out the book. Read more

Published on Sep 14 2003 by Valerie Gill

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read
I have read this book several times. Each time I read it, I grow to like E.L. Konigsburg morea and more as an author. Read more

Published on Aug 2 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A favorite book of my students
The View From Saturday was my reading class' final book last year, and their second favorite of the eight we completed. Read more

Published on July 31 2003 by George

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
The View from Saturday was a great book. It was a lot of fun to read, hearing the 4 kids different points of veiw. I didn't want to finish it.

Published on July 27 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars View From Saturday review by Carolyn
In this book, The View From Saturday, the author tells of a group of kids that teach their teacher about people, and that kindness is not all lost. Read more

Published on Jun 10 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, simple, yet beautful.
I love this book! I see that all the characters are very similar to me, especially Ethan, Nadia, and Julian. Read more

Published on Jun 9 2003

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View From Saturday (Hardcover)

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